Tran Hieu Trung brings philosophy of life into Vietnamese dishes

CREATIVE CULINARY PHILOSOPHY

"Fighting" at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, graduating with a degree in industrial management, and then fatefully becoming a chef, although before that, Tran Hieu Trung confessed: "Never cooked anything, only knew how to eat". Then suddenly, Hieu Trung went to the city of lights, Paris, and enrolled himself in the culinary school Le Cordon Bleu, a very convincing excuse: "I had no experience in cooking so I had to take shortcuts". It is understandable that in the field of knives and forks, Le Cordon Bleu possesses many secret tricks in preparing delicious dishes, enough to help students practice martial arts in the culinary industry.

Tran Hieu Trung in Lamai Garden in Hanoi.

Leaving Le Cordon Bleu, Hieu Trung "went down the mountain", traveling the world - hiring for hire all kinds of culinary styles from Europe to Asia, for 6 years, tasting the sourness, bitterness, sweetness and poetry of the profession and then decided to start a business with La Chérie, a tiny restaurant, enough space for 8 diners at a time. Recently, Hieu Trung "upgraded" La Chérie to a new version, Lamai Garden, with 20 seats, and a different way of playing, which is to bring philosophy into culinary creation.

Philosophy here is the philosophy of Japanese cuisine. Flavor is the pure flavor of the ingredients of the dish. Discussing the techniques of processing and creating delicious dishes, Hieu Trung summarized: "I learned the processing techniques from French cuisine, learned the philosophy from Japanese cuisine - especially respecting the original, pure flavors of the ingredients, and when expressing, I put my love, emotions, personality, creativity and soul into each dish."

In Vietnamese cuisine, there are many factors that determine the lasting appeal of a dish, such as eating with memories, eating with memories, eating with regional specialties... Hieu Trung also built the menu for Lamai Garden on that foundation, adding a specific time. Hieu Trung emphasized: "I want to serve diners seasonal food, because seasonal ingredients are always the freshest and most delicious, with the most perfect flavor. Next comes memories, then regions, for example, squash cooked with shrimp and peanuts is a popular summer dish that I often ate when I was a child, just a different way of presenting it, or when preparing a vegetable dish, I add a little bit of fish sauce hotpot flavor to immediately evoke the South".

Creating Vietnamese cuisine has many advantages, Hieu Trung said the reason: "Vietnam has many great spices, for example doi seeds, mac khen... special things that create attractive flavors for dishes. Special ingredients such as stream duck, black pig, mountain goat... are also strengths. Because they are raised naturally, when using these ingredients to process, with just one bite, you can immediately feel the difference from the delicious, characteristic flavor of the meat."

Che Lam ice cream at Lamai Garden

Vegetable hotpot with fish sauce, a delicious dish reminiscent of the region by Hieu Trung

Sour Pho, a mountain cuisine, presented by Hieu Trung

CONNECTING ACROSS VIETNAM

On the journey of creating delicious dishes based on common ingredients in the Vietnamese countryside, Hieu Trung expressed: "The same dish, many people express, but what makes the difference is that when people eat it, they see my personality in it, knowing that the dish was made by me. This is mainly expressed through the way of seasoning, it is like an identifying language in my creative way".

In the culinary arts, there are people who eat by taste, the dish just served makes people gasp because of the allure of the aroma, or eat by sight when the presentation is so beautiful that diners do not dare to touch the chopsticks for fear of destroying the charm of what is on the plate. Talking about the way of eating, Hieu Trung frankly expressed: "When I first started my career, I often spent time paying attention to the presentation, later on, I spent less time on it. After cooking a dish, I want to serve it as quickly as possible, because if left for too long, the flavor will gradually decrease. I do not focus on presentation, because the more I work, I understand that when a dish is delicious, it is obviously beautiful. The beauty here comes from the cooking technique, for example, just looking at a plate of boiled vegetables, even though it is monochrome, but the green color clearly shows freshness, health, not overcooked, that is beautiful enough".

Still maintaining a somewhat "conservative" way of serving diners by using only one option, diners will be served 12 seasonal dishes. As someone who is passionate about traveling to explore and research regional ingredients, Hieu Trung does not rely specifically on the details of creating dishes, so there are seasons when the 12 dishes on the menu are a story of connection spanning across Vietnam.

Hieu Trung explained the process of creating the menu for Lamai Garden: "My menu is quite long, so I have to calculate the overview, first of all it has to be seasonal, ensuring balance, the menu also needs to be surprising, creating a little surprise for diners, for example, the unpredictable ingredients. Then inserting dishes that are both strange and familiar so that customers feel like they are also on the menu. The flavor throughout is a balance of sour, spicy, salty, and sweet."

Papaya Dessert

Fried shrimp with a different "appearance" in the Lamai Garden menu

"Food" at Lamai Garden is a miniature "map" of ingredients under the creativity of Hieu Trung, the "food" part is an interesting game that this chef has painstakingly shown. The menu of 4 drinks is interwoven in a series of 12 dishes, divided into levels that Hieu Trung has positioned: "The flavors in my dishes are expressed gradually, the appetizer is light so it is combined with a sour drink, then a sweet taste, in the main dish, the mixed drink has the smell of spices and pepper mixed in. The set of 4 drinks are all handcrafted from seasonal and regional vegetables and fruits that are fermented, for example from hawthorn, apricot, pennywort...".

Black carp, sour star fruit

Winter vegetables

Intimate, familiar, but also full of surprises... are the familiar feelings of diners after enjoying Hieu Trung's culinary "collection". Many people wonder why this unique culinary style is not "popular" or more popular, Hieu Trung happily says: "Because it is still new to many people, I just want to do just enough, like planting a tree, having to take care of it every day so that the tree can take root well and grow gradually, there is no rush".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tran-hieu-trung-dem-triet-vi-nhan-sinh-nhap-hon-vao-mon-viet-185240829170448655.htm